Robert John 'Bob' Mesler

By the Midland Daily News

Published
3:00 am EDT, Saturday, June 23, 2012

Robert John "Bob" Mesler Jr., 87, longtime Midland resident, W.W.II veteran and retired Manager of Emergency Response for The Dow Chemical Co., passed away Wednesday, June 20, 2012, after a lengthy illness. Bob was born Jan. 4, 1925, in Cass City, MI, to Robert John Mesler Sr. and Ethelyn Louise (Smith) Mesler. The Meslers moved to Midland from Saginaw in 1941. Bob was a January, 1943 graduate of Midland High School, where he played football and ran track. He began his career at The Dow Chemical Co. immediately after graduation. Less than six months later, Bob was drafted into the U.S. Army, and after basic training, was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program at Hendrix College, Arkansas.

Bob married his high school sweetheart Margery Keicher on August 16, 1944, a month before shipping out to England, then to Belgium where he served in the U.S. infantry. During the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945, Sgt. Mesler was taken prisoner, escaping his captors at the end of April 1945, a few weeks before V-E Day. He was initially reported missing, and it wasn't until he had escaped that his family learned he'd actually been a POW.

"At the present, we live for the future, but we will long remember the past," he wrote home in an April 8, 1945 letter to his bride that vividly described his capture and treatment at the hands of his German captors, long marches and strafing by friendly fire. He was serious about remembering the past. Whatever it cost him in painful memory, he talked about those wartime experiences with generations of inquiring middle and high school students, as well as with those now-grown children of his fellow W.W.II veterans who perhaps hadn't shared their stories as candidly. Though he rarely claimed the distinction, Bob was proud to have served as a member of "The Greatest Generation." With Marge by his side, he revisited the Ardennes battlefield in 1989, where he was impressed by a local memorial to his fallen comrades. "It kind of finished off some unfinished business I had," he said upon returning home. Fifteen years later, Bob and fellow Midland veterans Max Bottomley and Bill Kennett - father of Midland Daily News reporter John Kennett - joined their fellow honorees in Washington, D.C. at the dedication of the National W.W.II Memorial.

With his war service completed, Bob attended Central Michigan University, graduating in 1949, with a B.S. in Biology. He resumed his career at The Dow Chemical Co., capping his 40-year career there by retiring as Manager of Emergency Response. Always active in his church and community, Bob's civic efforts included two terms on Midland's Parks and Recreation Commission, the presidency of the Jaycees, and being district manager for then-Congressman William Schuette. A talented craftsman, Bob also worked on the crew that restored the Midland County Courthouse. Until recently, Bob was the Buildings and Grounds committee chair for St. John's Episcopal Church in Midland, where he had previously served terms on the church vestry as both the senior and junior warden, as well as being a Sunday School teacher and youth leader.

Bob was "stand-in grandfather" to Anna, Maria, Cate and Matt. His extended family, the "Gang," includes Niki (Don) Beckwith, Max and Martha Bottomley, Gloria and Pete Lehman, Bill and Bonnie Kennett, Grace and Mike Merrell, Janet (Larry) Lang, Helen (Bob) Ward and Caroline (Al) Gunkler. Bob was preceded in death by his parents; and two brothers, James Russell Mesler and James Richard Mesler.

Memorial Services will take place at 11 a.m., Monday, June 25, 2012, from St. John's Episcopal Church, The Rev. Rob Skirving and The Rev. Mike Wilson will officiate, with inurnment to take place in the church mausoleum. Bob's family will receive friends at the Ware-Smith-Woolever Funeral Home, 1200 W. Wheeler St. on Sunday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider the Toni and Trish House or Shelterhouse. Full military honors will be presented by the Midland Area Veterans and the Dept. of the U.S. Army.

The family would like to give special thanks to Bob's Midland doctors, to Dr. Washer of U. of M., and especially Dr. Hafez of U. of M., for all the special care they gave Bob. Thanks also to the staff of MidMichigan Home Care (Hospice) and Bob's special nurse Raime.